Ovarian Cancer National Alliance 2011

The July meeting of the OCNA included a lecture by John Hays, MD, from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), entitled “Decision time: what is the right choice of chemotherapeutic agent(s)? Dr. Hays, part of the molecular signaling section at the NCI, reviewed literature on the topic. He described the need for prospective clinical trials to validate retrospective and in vitro results.

He then examined data from three technologies, the Oncotech extreme drug resistance test, Precision Therapeutics ChemoFX test and the ATP-based chemosensitivity test.

I found it odd that Dr. Dr. Hays spent time examining the EDR technology of Oncotech in as much as it is no longer offered and reflects proliferation-based studies, which have since largely been discredited.

The ATP assay was reviewed using the results of a study published by Dr. Ian Cree in which 180 patients received either assay-directed (ATP) or physician choice. This study actually provided an improvement for patients who received the ATP-based treatment but failed to achieve significance. Thus, it failed largely because it was underpowered.

But this reflected a more concerning aspect of the study.  It seems that the “physician choice” arm increasingly applied the best drug regimens developed in Dr. Cree’s own laboratory. As the trial continued to accrue, an increasing proportion of patients received Gemcitabine-based doublets (which were very new at the time) based upon Dr. Cree’s observation of activity for these novel combinations. This had the uncomfortable effect of forcing Dr. Cree to compete with himself. Had Dr. Hays been truly interested in examining this study as I have, he might have noticed the good control group response rate partly reflected the application of Dr. Cree’s’ own observations.

Indeed, when during my many attempts to conduct a prospective study with the GOG, I was at the very last moment confronted with a study design similar to Dr. Cree’s, (e.g. they could incorporate any treatment they chose, including those that I developed), my statistician demanded that I forego the pleasure, as he could see only too well that the trial had become impossible to power. You see, there was no true control arm for statistical comparison.

The final portion of Dr. Hays’ presentation was the ChemoFX assay. This technology propagates tissue biopsies to confluence and then conducts measurement of drug-induced cell death. With substantial funding largely provided by venture capital, Precision Therapeutics has leapt into the GOG with a series of trials. Should this hybrid technology fail to provide prospective results that meet significance, it will be a damaging blow to this unfairly maligned area of investigation. While I wish the ChemoFX investigators luck, a failure on their part could be harmful to the field. Their reliance on propagated, sub-cultured tissues grown to monoculture has been a concern to me since they first arose in the last few years as participants in the field. We await the results of their trials with great anticipation.

What is interesting in Dr. Hays’ review is not so much what he said, but what he didn’t say.

First, he did not mention the seminal work of Dr. Larry Weisenthal, a pioneer in the field.

Second, he did not describe the nearly 2,000 retrospective, yet statistically significant correlations in the literature in a wide variety of diseases. He neglected to mention that one of the most widely used regimens for breast and ovarian cancer was developed using the same human tumor culture analyses that he decries. If he actually treats patients, he no doubt uses the cisplatin gemcitabine doublets developed using one of these platforms.

Finally, Dr. Hays has failed evidence-based medicine 101. He has forgotten that in life-threatening illnesses where prospective clinical trial data is not available, in accordance with the dictates of evidence-based medicine, one should use the best available data to guide treatments.

There is a wealth of data supporting laboratory based drug selection.  Presentations like that described do not add to the discourse.

Melanoma, the Immune System, and Targeted Therapies

For those of you who have been following the recent news coming from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) held in Chicago, you have heard of the breakthroughs for the treatment of malignant melanoma.

Melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, arises as a pigmented lesion (mole or large freckle), generally in sun-exposed areas. Though curable in its earliest stages, once these malignancies disseminate, they can be the most aggressive and hard to treat cancers known to oncologists. That is, until recently when two important discoveries were made.

The first discovery actually dates back many years. It turns out that melanoma is one of those cancers that occasionally, spontaneously, regresses and that a subset of patients respond to interferon (an immune protein). This suggested a role for the immune system.

The next piece of evidence came from work in the 1980s, conducted by Steven Rosenberg, MD, PhD, at the National Cancer Institute. Using a genetically engineered human protein (interleukin 2-IL2), these investigators reported responses in patients with metastatic melanoma. Again, an immune component to this dreaded disease.

Fast-forward two decades. Investigators unraveling the complexities of human immunity realized that the cancer cells weren’t being recognized and effectively controlled by lymphocytes. Something was dampening the immune response. With the discovery of ipilumumab, an antibody directed against CTL4, scientists could now turn off the “off” switch, thereby turning on the immune system.

Survival advantages have been substantial. This therapy is now available to patients in need.

The second discovery represents a triumph for “targeted” therapy. As the gene BRAF, was recognized to be mutated in the majority of melanoma patients, drugs were developed to turn off this important pathway. Unfortunately, the first generation BRAF inhibitor sorafenib, could not shut down what proved to be the most common variant of the BRAF mutation, known as V600E.

To the rescue came a compound now known as vemurafenib. By turning off the V600E signal, those patients with this specific mutation (about 60 percent) responded dramatically.

While both these discoveries are meritorious, the responses in most patients unfortunately have not been very durable, with relapses generally occurring months or the first year after starting therapy. Interestingly, secondary pathways, like N-RAS and C-RAF, may step to the fore and overtake the effect of the BRAF inhibition. This offers hope that third generation small molecules will address these resistant clones.

In our laboratory, we are currently examining small molecules that inhibit the RAS and other pathways to determine whether new strategies may overcome these resistance mechanisms in melanoma. As a proof of concept, these reports from ASCO establish that the era of targeted therapy in melanoma is here.

National Cancer Institute Stops Gene-based Clinical Trials – Part 2

Last week we discussed the National Cancer Institute’s suspension of three ongoing clinical trails using genomic platforms to select therapies for cancer patients. This week, we seek to answer the question: What went wrong?

The simple answer is that cancer isn’t simple.

Cancer dynamics are not linear. Cancer biology does not conform to the dictates of molecular biologists. Once again, we are forced to confront the realization that genotype does not equal phenotype.

In a nutshell, cancer cells utilize cross talk and redundancy to circumvent therapies. They back up, zig-zag and move in reverse, regardless of what the sign posts say. Using genomic signatures to predict response is like saying that Dr. Seuss and Shakespeare are truly the same because they use the same words. The building blocks of human biology are carefully construed into the complexities that we recognize as human beings. However appealing gene profiling may appear to those engaged in this field (such as Response Genetics, Caris, the group from Duke and many others) it will be years, perhaps decades, before these profiles can approximate the vagaries of human cancer.

Functional analyses like the EVA-PCD platform, which measure biological signals rather than DNA indicators, will continue to provide clinically validated information and play an important role in cancer drug selection. The data that support functional analyses is demonstrably greater and more compelling than any data currently generated from DNA analyses.

National Cancer Institute Stops Gene-based Clinical Trials – Part 1

In prior posts we have discussed the clinical potential of genomic profiling for the selection of chemotherapeutics. Although, genomic analyses offer many insights, we described the limitations of these platforms. A recent report in the national media gives further credence to our position.

On July 22 and 23, 2010, the National Cancer Institute suspended two lung cancer and one breast cancer clinical trial that used genomic profiling to select active treatments for patients. The technique applied was developed at Duke University and reported, to much fanfare, in Lancet Oncology in 2007. The rather stunning success reported in this and related articles by the investigators from Duke, lead to a widespread belief that gene profiles would select active therapies for patients.

The first chink in the armor of this argument came when scientific reviewers issued an “expression of concern” regarding the validity of the method. Further analyses revealed evidence that the technologies for the prediction of response in individual patients could not be reproduced. As the reviewers stated, “The scientific community should be able to replicate the results with the reported data available.” They continued, “Having tried, we can confidently state that this is not yet true.” The NCI convened a group of 31 scientists, who concluded, “It is absolutely premature to use these prediction models to influence the therapeutic options open to cancer patients.”

Next week we’ll explore what went wrong with these seemingly promising trials.